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If the federal government sticks to its austerity measures, the combined tickets for the matches and public transport will probably be canceled.
The Women’s European Football Championship (EM) will take place in Switzerland in July 2025. So it will still take over a year for the ball to roll. Local politics in the eight venues are currently particularly concerned with how strong the ruble will roll – and how much money the federal government will support the venues with.
Does Parliament correct the Federal Council?
The fact that the Federal Council only wants to contribute four million francs to the major event instead of the originally announced 15 million francs is not well received. The eight European Championship venues believe that this budget cut is a mistake. In a letter to national politicians, they called for this decision to be reconsidered. With success: The Council of States has now voted for the full 15 million – the decision in the National Council is still pending and is expected in the summer session.
So much for the starting point. The city of Lucerne has now informed where it stands with the preparation work for the European Championship, namely at the “rough concept” level. This will be refined by October, and advance sales will start shortly afterwards.
“The decision on the federal contribution will be crucial for further planning,” says Leevke Stutz, project manager of Host City Lucerne. “If the contribution were actually reduced, it would have significant consequences.” The integration of public transport is explicitly mentioned here. It is planned that the public transport tickets will be integrated into the match tickets.
“Our goal is to have games that are as ecological as possible,” says Lucerne’s mayor Beat Züsli. That’s why fans should travel by public transport. This is a central element for Lucerne. However, this public transport integration is only possible with the full federal contribution.
No more money is planned from the city and canton of Lucerne.
There is still a chance that, after the Council of States, the National Council will also decide to support the European Championship with more money. And if not? Do the venues and cantons then step in? At least in the canton of Lucerne this is not planned. “We would of course have liked the commitment of the Federal Council to remain binding,” says government councilor Michaela Tschuor.
Legend:
The 2008 men’s European Championship was supported by the federal government with 80 million francs. Most of this went into security measures.
Keystone / Martin Ruetschi
And no, there are no plans for the city and canton of Lucerne to step into the breach and provide more money. The canton and city of Lucerne are supporting the women’s European Football Championship with two million francs each. In total, the eight venues have already made around 48 million francs in advance work for the preparatory work, according to the EM project management in Switzerland.
The Federal Council’s decision was criticized not least because of the fact that the men’s European Championships in Switzerland and Austria had been supported with 80 million francs. The Federal Council justified the massively higher contribution by pointing to the high security costs.
“We expect a peaceful tournament”
“We expect completely different fans than at a major men’s event,” says Leevke Stutz, project manager at Host City Lucerne. “Many more families, women, children. We expect a very peaceful tournament.”
Over 700,000 spectators are expected in the stadiums in the eight venues. The final game will be played in Basel on Saturday, July 27th. Switzerland will play in the group stage in Basel (opening game), Bern and Geneva.